Principa/ winter /}ome o/'ihe c/ac^s and qeese^ 

 o-f the eastern Unitec/ States. 



Special distt.cts where great r?umbersofcfucftsand 

 ffeese congregate during the winttr. 



'-'% 



-r 



<^ 



c:?* 



<:„, 



MAP SHOWING THE PRINCIPAL WINTER RESORTS OF THE WIED DUCKS AND GEESE 



they repair to the Gulf of St. Lawrence 

 and gradually work south on the advent 

 of winter to the southern New England 

 coast. 



The following spring, instead of re- 

 tracing the round-about fall migration 

 route, the main flight of coots takes a 

 short cut west in Long Island Sound to 

 the mouth of the Connecticut; up the 

 valleys of the Connecticut and Hudson 

 rivers to the valley of the Ottawa, and 

 thence west and northwest to the breed- 

 ing grounds. Thus during their fall 

 migration they aie passing through a 

 ■country almost entirely uninhabited, while 

 their spring flight over the thickly popu- 

 lated parts of Connecticut and New York 

 is made for the most part by night. 

 Under these circumstances it is not sur- 

 prising that the scoter succeeds in holding 

 its own. 



Another species that has an equally 

 peculiar migration route is the Ross snow 

 goose. It is one of the very rare geese 

 -in North America and is also the smallest, 

 about the size of a mallard duck. From 

 its unknown breeding grounds on the high 

 Arctic Islands it comes south through the 



Mackenzie Valley ; but instead of turning 

 to the southeast to winter on the Gulf 

 coast with the other geese and ducks 

 which have been its traveling companions, 

 it parts company with them at the na- 

 tional boundary line, goes south into 

 Montana, and then strikes westward, 

 crossing the lofty ranges of the main 

 chain of the Rocky Mountains and win- 

 ters in California (see map, page 367). 



WHEN SHOULD THESE BIRDS BE 

 PROTECTED ? 



The problem of waterfowl protection 

 has four distinct phases corresponding to 

 the four seasons of the year. The sum- 

 mer or the breeding season is acknowl- 

 edged to be the time when the shooting 

 of ducks and geese is most pernicious. 

 Practically all our States and Canada are 

 agreed that hunting should cease abso- 

 lutely during the weeks when the birds 

 are nesting. 



Only a little less disastrous is hunting 

 during spring migration, when the lucky 

 survivors of the winter's campaign are 

 on their way to the nesting grounds. Just 

 now the struggle for game preservation 



368 



